Striking a blow against fascism with commentary on current events, finance, economics, politics, music, art, culture and how to deal with our economic lives being bartered away by the elites who have our financial future all figured out: We'll be paying off their debts forever.

If you like what you read here, please make a donation to Pottersville2. Peace to all and let's work to end the wars.

"We Americans are the ultimate innocents. We are forever desperate to believe that this time the government is telling us the truth." - Sydney Schanberg

"The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft, / And gathering swallows twitter in the skies." - John Keats

"It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen ... The world will present itself to you for its unmasking." - Franz Kafka

"“We of the craft are all crazy,” wrote Lord Byron about himself and his fellow poets. “Some are affected by gaiety, others by melancholy, but all are more or less touched.”"

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

"In my lifetime we've gone from Eisenhower to George W. Bush. If this is evolution, I believe within twelve years we'll be voting for plants." - Lewis Black

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." – George Orwell

Senator Frank Church in 1975 chaired the Senate Hearings on the FBI’s Cointelpro operation, which spied upon and attempted to infiltrate, disrupt and discredit the peace movement. . . "if a dictator ever took over, (the NSA) could enable to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back. . . . That capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide. . . . I don’t want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."

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Conservative Animus

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Conservatism is the theoretical voice of this animus against the agency of the subordinate classes. It provides the most consistent and profound argument as to why the lower orders should not be allowed to exercise their independent will, why they should not be allowed to govern themselves or the polity. Submission is their first duty, agency, the prerogative of the elite.

Current Readers

Politicus USA on GOP Fascism

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The entire GOP apparatus is slipping toward fascism and millions of Americans have been indoctrinated to believe that the Bible none of them have read takes precedence over the Constitution none of them have read.

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Waiting for Grand Dad

Cirze's World

Eco Farm Shitakes, Squash, Kale - Cindi, Nicole & Eddie

Ukraine Disinformation Battle: Little Green Men, Hamsters and the Fog of War

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There has always been a gap in how media on both sides of the former Iron Curtain have reported world events, and it’s growing as the crisis in Ukraine escalates. It has become increasingly difficult to obtain reliable information from any side — west, east, or further east — about what is going on in Eastern Ukraine.
While powerful propaganda machines fill the public space with smoke and mirrors, one of the few facts that can be positively established in Eastern Ukraine is that the body count is steadily growing: a testament of just how easy it is for self-interested foreign powers to start, either intentionally or recklessly, a civil war in the heart of Europe. Continuing coverage is available at this link and this link.

Cirze's World

Red Roots Farm - Kristen & Jason - No Sprays/Delicious Veggies!

Fukushima, Japan Disaster Worsens and Spreads

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While the American reactor industry continues to suck billions of dollars from the public treasury, its allies in the corporate media seem increasingly hesitant to cover the news of post-Fukushima Japan. Continuing coverage is available at this link, this link, and this link.

My Blog Fights Climate Change

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Animal Rescue - Click Everyday!

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Paul Krugman:

I don’t think many people grasp just how raw, how explicit, the corruption of our institutions has become.

Yesterday I had a conversation with someone who, like me, spent most of the Bush years as a voice in the wilderness. And he pointed out something remarkable: although those of us who said the obvious — that the Bush administration was fundamentally monstrous — were ridiculed by all the respectable people at the time, at this point our narrative has become everyone’s narrative.

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Paul Craig Roberts:

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"Anyone who depends on print, TV, or right-wing talk radio media is totally misinformed. The Bush administration has achieved a de facto Ministry of Propaganda."

"The uniformity of the US media has become much more complete since the days of the cold war. During the 1990s, the US government permitted an unconscionable concentration of print and broadcast media that terminated the independence of the media.

Today the US media is owned by 5 giant companies in which pro-Zionist Jews have disproportionate influence. More importantly, the values of the conglomerates reside in the broadcast licenses, which are granted by the government, and the corporations are run by corporate executives — not by journalists — whose eyes are on advertising revenues and the avoidance of controversy that might produce boycotts or upset advertisers and subscribers.

Americans who rely on the totally corrupt corporate media have no idea what is happening anywhere on earth, much less at home."

_________________ War On Terror
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Roberts asked "Is the War on Terror a Hoax", and claims it has "killed, maimed, dislocated, and made widows and orphans of millions of Muslims in six countries". Roberts called the attacks "naked aggression" on civilian populations and infrastructure which constitute war crimes.

_________________ Republican Party
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Roberts is seriously dismayed by what he considers the Republican Party's disregard for the U.S. Constitution. He has even voiced his regret that he ever worked for it, avowing that, had he known what it would become, he would never have contributed to the Reagan Revolution.

_________________ American Democracy and Oligarchy
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Roberts has been increasingly critical of what he deems as the lessening of democracy in the U.S.; instead accusing it of being run by oligarchs by stating:

"The west prides itself that it is the standard for the world, that it is a democracy. But nowhere do you see democratic outcomes: not in Greece, not in Ireland, not in the UK, not here, the outcomes are always to punish the innocent and reward the guilty.

And that's what the Greeks are in the streets protesting. We see this all over the west. There is no democracy, there are oligarchies, some of these smaller European countries are not even run by their own governments, they are run by Wall Street... There is probably more democracy in China than there is in the west.

Revolution is the only answer... We are confronted with a curious situation. Throughout the west we think we have democracy, we hold ourselves up high, we demonize China, we talk about the mafia state of Russia, we talk about the Arabs and so on, but where is the democracy here?"

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"Truth Has Fallen and Taken Liberty With It,"

Roberts effectively announced his journalistic retirement. The article, published at Counterpunch.org, begins:

"There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest."

It proceeds to a bitter chronicle of the demise of American intellectual integrity, particularly that of financial journalists and economists. These have been thoroughly corrupted by monetary inducements to misrepresent and ignore what has been, in effect, the systematic dismantling of the nation's productive life, in the name of globalization.

He holds the members of his own journalistic profession largely responsible for abetting relentless outsourcing of American industry, thereby gutting the American middle class and effectively dooming the nation's future.

He describes his own ostracism from mainstream media access, the consequence of his relentless and unflinching criticism of the demolition process over the past decade. His column ends, "The militarism of the U.S. and Israeli states, and Wall Street and corporate greed, will now run their course. As the pen is censored and its might extinguished, I am signing off."

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Cirze's World

Liberal?

"If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal."

John F. Kennedy, 1960

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Citizen's United

"[T]his Court now concludes that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. That speakers may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that those officials are corrupt. And the appearance of influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy."

Thursday, March 7, 2013

In plain English if a chartered bank did not take in the loan as a loan receivable and instead converted it into a bond receivable to investors, then the bank took no risk at all, and there was no reason to provide a guarantee of a risk of loss that did not exist. The misrepresentation of the financial community has dumped hundreds of billions of "losses" onto the federal government when those losses were actually covered by various risk avoidance vehicles like insurance and credit default swaps.

So here is how it is working now, from what I can determine at this time: the bank stands in as naked nominee in the loan with no assumption of any risk and therefore nothing to guarantee. The bank is renting out its name to grab onto the federal guarantee because it is not apparent that investors are funding the loan and that insurance and credit de fault swaps are not only protecting against the loss, but providing the same opportunity for Wall Street to create tier 2 yield spread premiums and multiple payments of the entire principal --- payable to Wall Street investment banks who never had a nickle in the game. The proceeds of insurance and credit default swaps are neither reported nor paid to the investors --- just like the mortgage mess.

The predatory loan infrastructure is virtually identical to the one seen in the mortgage market. Teaser rates are provided with no interest or very low interest payments while the student is in school and then, without any governance from regulators, the interest rate starts to rise attaining great heights.

As we progress toward success on the foreclosure front (yes, I believe it is coming) my return to representing clients directly in Florida in addition to my expert witness testimony in other states, has brought me face to face with a torrent of inquiries about student loans. There are over $1 trillion in student loans and they are starting to drag on the economy as the bankers laugh all the way to, well, the bank.

Let’s start at the beginning. There are two types of student loans and it appears as though only one of them is subject to claims of securitization. In “private Student Loans” it works pretty much the same way as the mortgage meltdown loans. Students who completely lack any literacy or sophistication and who rely upon the “loan officer” of a chartered bank are encouraged to borrow more than they need and more than they are likely to be able to pay back. The sales lines are virtually the same script as what was used on hapless “borrowers” in the mortgage meltdown, tailored to what appears to be a different situation. The origination “officer” convinces the student that in order to study, live and play they will need more money than what the student asked for.

The private bank, which is the originator, knows that they are the naked nominee of an undisclosed lender just like the mortgage loans. The actual source of funds comes from the sale of student-backed government guaranteed bonds purchased by fund managers that are desperately looking for higher yields than the market generally allows. Here is a tip: in any scam, the yield promised to investors is always higher than market and the viability of the bond depends completely upon the sale of more bonds — i.e., a Ponzi scheme. So if you see an advertisement for 12% yield, you can be certain that a Ponzi scheme is in play and you are most likely going to lose all your money. Don’t buy it. If it was real, then far more sophisticated investors and managers would have already snapped it up. There wouldn’t be anything left for small investors like you.

Back to student loans. The “lending bank” which is actually a naked nominee of an undisclosed lender (i.e., a group of investors) approves the loan and the borrower student doesn’t know it but his interest rate may go as high as 18% after he or she graduates, making the loan impossible to pay unless the student hits a flow of income in business or investment that by chance makes the student loan look like chump change.

99% of the student loans produce hardship of some sort or another because the principal was too high (like mortgages) and the interest rate changed to an unpayable amount.

So far in our limited amount of research, the student loan infrastructure looks eerily like the mortgage meltdown. The actual money comes in from a wire transfer from a “custodial account” managed by the investment banker that created and sold the student loan-backed bonds to the investors. The investors thought they were investing in a special purpose vehicle like a REMIC (used in real estate loans) or special purpose vehicle since the bonds are clearly issued by the SPV (trust).

Besides getting high ratings from the ratings companies, the bonds are advertised as insured, hedged and guaranteed by the Federal government. So from the investor’s point of view, just like the in the mortgage mess, there appears to be no way to lose money. Indeed, so far, they are right. The Federal guarantee comes with a caveat — the loan may not be discharged in bankruptcy.

In Court, later, the student is going to be caught in the cross fire of the same rhetoric that got the foreclosure mess started in the wrong direction: “you took the loan, you signed the papers, and you admit the default.” Therefore, there appears to be no way out….. except….I have another idea.

The Federal guarantee is really what is being purchased by the investors and they are the actual lenders, which excludes them from the class of lenders authorized to receive a guarantee. What that means is that the investors are NOT entitled to receive a guarantee or payment on the guarantee. It also means, I would argue, that if there is no Federal guarantee, there is no exemption from bankruptcy discharge.

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Beth and Lily Calmly Monitor Farmers Market Traffic

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Oscar Wilde

"I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies."
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

Harold Pinter

It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless... while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.

Chickenhawks Galore

Peace

"A man of peace is not a pacifist; a man of peace is simply a pool of silence. He pulsates a new kind of energy into the world, he sings a new song. He lives in a totally new way his very way of live is that of grace, that of prayer, that of compassion. Whomsoever he touches, he creates more love-energy. The man of peace is creative. He is not against war, because to be against anything is to be at war. He is not against war; he simply understands why war exists. And out of that understanding he becomes peaceful. Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding, will the war disappear."